April 13, 2026
The vibes are off(line)
AI could be the end of the digital wave, not the next big thing
From Etsy fakes to film cameras, users say the ‘log off era’ is here
TLDR: The piece argues AI may be the last gasp of the internet boom—not a brand-new era—as Big Tech dominates and markets mature. Commenters split: many complain of AI spam and crave offline life, while others challenge the theory’s timeline and insist the real next wave could be renewables or robotics.
What if AI isn’t the next big tech boom—but the final act of the internet era? That’s the provocative thesis making the rounds, citing the late-cycle theory of long “surges” popularized by economist Carlota Perez. The signs: startup funding has tanked, Big Tech owns the AI show (ChatGPT’s rise rode Microsoft’s cash), and nearly every industry that can go digital already has.
The comments, though, turned this into a vibes check on the entire internet. One founder confessed, “I barely have any new ideas,” wondering if day-to-day reliance on AI has drained creativity. Another shopper said they quit buying online because listings are drowning in AI-generated images—Etsy, of all places. Meanwhile, a local scene report claimed a 100+ person social club booming weekly and a two-month backlog at a film camera repair shop. The mood: people are tired of infinite scroll, infinite tracking, and infinite sameness.
Not everyone’s buying the “end of the wave” narrative. Skeptics ask: why can’t multiple revolutions happen at once, and why do they have to last 50–60 years? Others speculate the real new wave is offscreen—renewable energy and robots. And when someone claimed “everyone hates AI in Google search,” a sharp reply demanded receipts. Jokes flew about “touch grass-as-a-service” and “Etsy now stands for Extremely Tricky Synthetic Images.” Whatever the cycle, the crowd’s verdict is clear: the internet got weird, and real life is trending.
Key Points
- •The article proposes that today’s AI surge may be the late stage of the ICT wave that began in the 1970s, not a new technological wave.
- •It uses Carlota Perez’s surge model (installation vs. deployment phases, with an S-curve and post-crash transition) to explain market maturity.
- •Nicolas Colin’s “late-cycle investment theory” is cited to argue that computing and networks are in a maturity phase, shaping capital allocation.
- •Three indicators support the late-cycle view: the possibly structural 2022 startup funding collapse; AI advances led by well-capitalized incumbents; near-saturation of digital platforms.
- •Examples include ChatGPT emerging from OpenAI with Microsoft’s resources, and heavy AI investment by Google, Meta, and Amazon.